Make Your Own Retro Hip Wayfarers - Cool, Man

Got a party or masquerade event coming up soon? Snag a sheet of these hip papercraft sunglasses to add to the insanity  fun.

Retro Sunglasses Template

Retro-style Wayfarers sunglasses to make an instant mask or toy for kids of all ages - even you boomers who probably still have your original shades. You can print, cut out and put together these knockoff replicas with nifty brads at the corners; add some to your party favors or photo booth props. We recommend printing your papercraft retro sunglasses on heavy photo paper for extra shine but any card stock will do the trick.  Free for any noncommercial use - if you want to share, share the link or the web site page.

Paper Craft Owl Mask

Owl Mask Printable

Whooo will you be for Halloween? Why not a wise owl? All you need is this printable Paper Craft  Owl Face Mask, craft knife and yarn or elastic thread to make your own wise own face mask.

This is just one of more than a dozen free printable masks at Clip Art and Crafts.

Instant Masks - Mardi Gras Masquerade

Instant masks - make one now for your Mardi Gras bash, Fat Tuesday party or Carnivale masquerade ball.

#1 Fan Mask Craft

I love recycled crafts and Halloween so this mask making project is a favorite. You may have seen flat cardboard fans given away at county fairs and political rallies. These masks are basically the same thing, except they've got your favorite musical artist's face on the front.

If you have no album covers, take heart. You can still make a #1 Fan Mask from a photo or a cereal box ... read on.

How to Make a #1 Fan Mask
If you've got a bunch of old vinyl record album jackets hanging around, you can recycle the jacket fronts into celebrity masks on sticks. You could also use cereal boxes or magazine photos if they've got celebrity faces in jumbo head shot sizes. You'll need a face image that's approximately life size, so it will cover your face ...

Cut the face out of the album cover, cereal box or magazine page leaving just a slight margin around the face and hair.

Glue the face image to card stock; trim excess card from edges after glue dries.

Gather up some wooden paint-stirring sticks (the kind you get at the hardware store when you buy a gallon of paint). Or, if you've got some old wooden rulers around, they'll work too - and you'll be doubling your recycling efforts. You could even cut a wooden yard stick into 3 fan-mask holders. (Side note: Years ago roller-type window shades had wooden sticks in the bottom - if you have any of those hanging around, recycle those into handles.)

Paint the sticks if you wish, or leave them natural. Let paint dry.

Attach the cardboard cut out faces to the sticks using tacky glue or duct tape.

Enjoy your celebrity status by holding up your fan/mask to disguise your face ... or keep your cool. You can get really fancy with this project and attach a sign or another face to the back side of the stick.

Celebrity Photo Fan Masks
For another version of this project, print out enlarged photos of anyone - family, pets, celebrities. Find lifesized portrait pictures or enlarge them using a color copier, scanner or your computer and a good graphics editing program. Print the enlarged photo onto card stock or heavy paper and proceed with the project instructions above.

The best results come from photos that are life size with the subject facing straight ahead (or you can get silly and use a back of the head picture instead!).

Here are links to a few photos of famous faces available at Wikipedia.com that you can use to make your own celebrity face masks or mask-fans:

Barack Obama
Pres. Bill Clinton
Pres. George W. Bush
VP Dick Cheney
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Angeline Jolie
Hillary Clinton

PS Don't throw the vinyl albums away! You can recycle those into nifty bowls and wrist cuff bangles ... directions to follow in a future post.

Fat Tuesday Fun - Mardi Gras Coloring

It's time for Mardi Gras party fun for all ages. Kids and adults will find Mardi Gras coloring pages and masks to color at Mardi Gras Coloring Fun. All pages are free to print for personal use.

Mardi Gras Crown

Grab Your green, gold and purple markers to decorate this mardi gras crown, then sprinkle on some glitter and add feathers - what a cool way to celebrate Fat Tuesday. Find the printable Mardi Gras Crown at Free Coloring for Kids and Grown Ups.

Mardi Gras Masks

It's time to make printable masks for Carnival season - print out these full color paper craft Mardi Gras masks with fancy features - Mardi Gras 2009 (Fat Tuesday) is February 24. Add some glitter and feather trims for more pizazz.

These free masks are easy to make: print, cut out, add ribbons to tie on. Get fancy and attach your Mardi Gras mask to a stick along one side to make a masquerade ball style mask. Let the Good Times Roll for Mardi Gras!